The answer is no and yes. Here’s an explanation. It is the mission of Temple University to serve the community. Since the Library supports the mission of the University, we serve the community as part of our mission as well. To do this we allow members of the public to use our Libraries, although those who do not have a Temple ID must show photo identification to enter the building and must sign in with the door guard. Also, because the Library is a government document depository, we are also required to be open to the general public.

However, the computers in all the Temple Libraries are not generally available to the public. You may have noticed that virtually all of our computers require a Temple network account to access anything more than the Library online catalog. But given our mission to serve the public we do make available a limited number of computers for members of the general public. For fall 2009 the public use computers will be located in Tuttleman opposite the Circulation Desk. To use a computer a member of the public (no currently valid Temple ID) must register in advance at the Circulation Desk, and if approved will receive a unique code to logon to the designated public use computers.

So the anwer is yes, but in a rather limited capacity. We believe there are sufficient computers in the Libraries – along with laptops that can be borrowed from the Circulation Desk – to accommodate Temple University students. But let us know if you think we need to be doing a better job with our computers.